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 Television Access Grant-ed
By Steve Kim (April 17, 2003)
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This Friday night, Michael Grant makes his return to the airwaves when he headlines this weeks edition of ESPN2's 'Friday Night Fight's from Lemoore, California when he takes on rugged journeyman Gilberto Martinez.
The 6-foot-7 Grant was last seen by a national audience last August when he stopped Robert Davis in three rounds. It would be his fourth straight victory after his disastrous back-to-back knockout losses at the hands of Lennox Lewis and Jameel McCline. But after his victory against Davis, the decision was made to go back on the road fighting lesser boxers in smaller venues instead of stepping up and fighting on TV.
"We've been moving, we've had fights here and there," Grant told MaxBoxing of his recent road trips designed to rebuild his confidence and career. "We haven't sat still on any situation, we fought in D.C. and we fought in Philadelphia. We've been moving. So we're moving forward and working on things that we need."
In his two subsequent fights after Davis, Grant would stop James Walton in four rounds and then Carlton Johnson in five. Now he faces Martinez, who comes in with a mark of 15-4-1, and has wins over a badly faded Tony Tubbs this past January and a win over David Bostice.
The Martinez fight will be an opportunity for Grant to show the public just how far he has come in his comeback. But fighting underneath the bright lights again does not faze the giant.
"It's the same," Grant claims. "I tell everyone the same story -- it's the same no matter what I'm doing. A fight is a fight. You gotta fight. The guy is trying to hurt you. So each element is the same as a championship fight or as a preliminary fight. It's all the same, whether it's in front of thousands to a million eyes, it's nothing. You still got to do the same performance."
Although the victory over Davis was a fairly significant step in Grant's revival, his trainer Teddy Atlas decided to pull back the reins and look at the big picture.
"I thought we needed to go off TV after that," explained Atlas, who is also a color commentator for ESPN2's weekly series. "Get more consistent, there were certain things I wasn't happy with. I was happy with the result, I was happy with the way he responded in the third round but there was some inconsistency in the second round. So I thought we needed to not fool ourselves, go back, do some more work, not have the pressures of television and take that road."
And now was the time, according to Atlas, to come out of hiding and a win could lead to bigger and better things for his heavyweight.
"Now, I think it's time to go back on ESPN, get visibility, hopefully have a good showing," said Atlas. "I wouldn't be doing that if I didn't think it was the time, just like I thought it was the time with Robert Davis on ESPN. So I do think it's time for that, I do think he's ready for that and if he gets past that and we can't look past this and everything goes well, we may be fighting on HBO, June 7th, against an undefeated fighter, which will be a real big step up against Dominick Guinn.
"If everything goes right here, I think that'll be the next step and I've OK'd that already because I think the timing would be good. I think the spot would be good. There's no doubt there would be a jump up in level but that step has to come at some point. I think the timing would be good, being able to step up with a guy who was a good amateur and is talented in Guinn. But a guy, who for the most part is completely untested at this point in his career."
It was only a few years ago that Grant was playing the role of Guinn, as the young prospect with bright hopes on his way up. Now, Grant plays the role that was once played by men like Al Cole, Ross Puritty, Jorge Luis Gonzalez, Lionel Butler, David Izon, Obed Sullivan, Ahmad Abdin and Lou Savarese for him during his rise up the heavyweight rankings. Now, he is the 'name opponent' for an upstart looking to make his mark.
After his life-and-death struggle against Andrew Golota, in which he was floored twice in the first round before stopping Golota in the 10th, instead of being pulled back and nurtured a bit, Grant was thrown in with heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in April of 2000. Where he would proceed to fall like a statue of Saddam Hussein time and time again on his way to a second-round stoppage. Then after a lengthy layoff to take care of physical and emotional wounds, Grant was stopped in less than one minute by McCline in July of 2001 -- where he would go through another long hiatus due to a fractured ankle suffered in that fight. His career had hit 'ground zero'.
To say the least, the rise up, the subsequent fall and then digging himself out of the abyss he was in have been humbling.
"It's absolutely been humbling," admits the big man. "That's how I feel, it's a humbling experience. I need the work and I need the experience. I was rushed when I hit the big stage and I had enough ability to carry me to a certain point but what we're doing right now, getting this experience to get through the lack of experience that I had in the past."
So it's ironic, that in facing the likes of Reynaldo Minus, Joe Lenhart, Anthony Willis and then, Davis, Walton and Johnson, they're doing what should have been done earlier to fully develop himself as a real prizefighter.
"Yeah," agreed Grant. "I can agree to that, absolutely. It should have been done longer than that. I've been boxing for ten years and it should have been done from the door from the start."
But it has to be said that even though it may have been premature to face Lewis when he did, he was still able to pick up a payday well over $4 million -- giving him a certain type of financial security that most fighters could only dream off. But the cost was high, too. He may have been ruined and his growth stunted forever. Or maybe that was as far as he was ever going to get anyway. So, was it worth if for Grant?
"It was good for me," he answers after contemplating the question for quite awhile. "It was a blessing for me. The money was there and I accepted it with open arms and through the travails I met some interesting people who I know not to be around again. So it was a learning experience. And during that learning experience I had some gains and I had some losses. The point is, I'm able to recover from my losses and have a second chance at it."
And Grant's focus is solely on his upcoming bout on Friday night against Martinez. His proposed June bout against Guinn is the furthest thing in his mind.
"I don't even look at Dominick right now to be honest with you," Grant says. "I don't even know his ability right now. I know he's an undefeated heavyweight right now and he's trying to make a debut up into the heavyweight picture. But right now, April 18th is my concern and that's all I look at."
HAWAIIAN PUNCH
It looks like Brian Viloria got a much needed confidence booster in stopping Valentin Leon in eight rounds in front of his hometown crowd in Honolulu,
Hawaii.
Maybe fighting in front of a partisan crowd away from the pressures of fighting on national TV, along with having his trainer, Freddie Roach, back with him, is just what the doctor ordered.
MONOPOLY
So Lou DiBella and Mike Acri have signed Hector Camacho Jr., huh?
I guess DiBella really is trying to corner the market on reluctant left-handers.
The plan is for Junior to be trained by the famed Emanuel Steward, who was also supposed to be taking over the training duties of Ricardo Williams Jr. Oh, I can just imagine those two guys just pushing each other to the limit and really motivating one another. That should be some inspiring stuff.
I'll say it again, Steward is a trainer with a great reputation, I didn't know he did heart transplants. Williams might be salvageable, I don't know about Camacho.
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